Students in Spain have been occupying their unviersities in protest at the increase in fees along with a slew of austerity measure aimed at the education sector. Fees are set to rise from 700 euros to 1,900 euros a year.
How will the cuts affect Spanish students?
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The Spanish Government have cut the education budget by 3,000 million euros.
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Restrictions in the growth of new universities or grants to renovate decrepit university buildings.
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Widespread redundancies and restrictions on hiring policies for universities and/or autonomous departments or research centre.
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New conditions on scholarships in favour of more affluent students.
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Financial constraints on academic research.
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Universities with overdue budgets will be fined.
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Non-European international students will have to pay fees of upto 7000 euros.
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Retaking a subject will now cost upto 670 euros.
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Scrapping of certain degree programmes to save money.
New legislation was pushed through quickly while students were in their examination period. Very little information was given to institutions and students about the extent of the cuts to education. So far 7 universities have been occupied by student protestors: Universidad de La Laguna, Cordoba, Palma de Mallorca, Zaragoza, Tarragona, Madrid and Sevilla. Show your support for Spanish students by reading about the occupations and signing the petition here.